Developing from scratch

CSE provides electronic consulting services for the design and development of electronic products, systems, and components.

Here are some tips that might help you develop a product “from scratch”, based on our experience with other companies.

If your product or idea is truly unique, protect it with a patent. This is also a good idea if you plan to raise capital down the road – because potential investors want to see that the idea has value and protection as Intellectual Property. You have a limited amount of time to file for a patent after the product has been offered “for sale”, so secrecy is important.

Make sure that you have a marketing plan that is effective. Nothing can sell itself without help, no matter how good the product or idea is. It is more important to care-fully market a product than it is to have a unique product idea – although a good prod-uct is necessary for long-term success.

Make sure that your product is in a field that interests you (unless you are a peddler, which is okay, too). If you are going to spend a great deal of time refining and prom-oting your product, having it be a natural fit for you helps ease the work.

Build a prototype and use it to build sales and find potential customers. Use it as a model to get potential customers involved in offering suggestions. If a picture paints a thousand words, how many more words a working prototype?

Hire companies and people you feel comfortable with, because if the road gets bumpy, you want to be able to remain focused on the issues and not get misled by distractions.

Find inexpensive or highly effective resources. Keep in mind that resources are rarely both inexpensive and effective. If you find one of these gems, hold onto it! Know what you need with respect to resources.